Distinct lack of Oomph

The combination of stuff I have been trying has definitely been working.    I was rather surprised, but it really has made a difference to my symptoms.   It hasn't, however, solved the underlying cause(s), whatever it(they) may be.

 

I know that because my back pain returned unexpectedly a few days ago.

 

The feeling of having someone's knee in a particular place on my upper back, is, well, back.  In the shower this morning, I felt around the area and realised it is in exactly the same place as it has always been, 4 years and 7 months now.

 

It's not as horrendous as it has been, but it is very.....wearing.  It's sapping my interest, motivation and ability to do anything.

 

I'm also finding that I am breathing with my mouth open, despite not really feeling bunged up.  This has had some consequences at night, cpap issues;  I suspect the issues at night (the lack of oxygen)  are causing the back pain issues.

 

I'm continuing with the Everything and the Kitchen Sink regime.   I need to look at getting B vitamins and iron tested, and I think I'll do that when I get the vitamin D etc re-tested in a few weeks.

 

Spring is in the air, and hopefully that will result in a spring in my step.

 

We'll see.

 

 

Monkeying Around

We had a huge stash of bedding to take to Monkey World.  The boot was full, despite me having pressed everything to make it as flat and neat as possible.

We intended to go in Spring, on a pleasant day.   However, it was half term, Miss Teen was staying for a few days,  and we asked if she wanted to go.  

We went yesterday.

It was dry (hooray) and it was a bright cold day when we started.  By the time we got an hour down the motorway it was dry but very grey.  

We left the stuff in the car and went into the park.  We thought it best to have a look round and then come back to the car later, when the queues were quieter, to drop off the mountain of bedding.   

There were few monkeys and apes to be seen, they weren't stupid.  It was cold out.   They'd all been moved out of their bedrooms so the bedrooms could be cleaned, but they hadn't come outside (and couldn't be seen from outside) so actually we saw very few individuals while we were there.

It was full of excited children.  It was lovely to see them all having such a good time, but reminded me that, for us, going out of school holidays would have been much more comfortable.

We managed to recreate a couple of the photos we took last time we were there with Miss Teen, nearly 6 years ago.

We had lunch in the cafe, then drive the car up to the entrance so we could unload the bedding.  DH had to stay with the car while Miss Teen and I lugged and lugged stuff.  I had one huge box and I'd put a load in that, but it was so heavy the two of us could barely manage.

In the end it was all done.    We decided we would go home rather than going back into the park.

Miss Teen fell asleep on the way home, so that was another photo recreated :-)

 

 

Hear, Hear

Back in December 2023 I had a throat infection, and on the evening of 2nd January 2024  I suddenly lost the hearing in one ear.  I literally felt it go.   

Afterwards, it felt like my ear was waiting to pop.  I kept trying, without success. I assumed it would pop overnight, but it didn't.    I used the NHS website, which suggested a few things, none of which worked.I continued to try for days, until I eventually asked for a GP appointment.  By the time the appointment came it was over 3 weeks since it happened.

  I didn't see the GP, it was another practitioner.  I told him that I'd felt my hearing go, it went suddenly.  He told me to get one of those balloons (Otovent), and to come back in a week if it didn't help and they would make an ENT appointment.

I bought the balloon thing, I used it frequently.  I tried all the other exercises as well.    After a week of no success, I made a follow up appointment and asked for a referral to ENT.

The referral came through fairly quickly, it was something like 20th February.  It turned out it was too late to help, and the ENT chap said it was likely that my loss (degradation rather than complete loss) was now permanent.    I should have had steroids within the first 6 weeks, which would have improved my chances of my hearing being restored.

I was having problems with my sinuses,which was interfering with my CPAP.  

During the last year I've had a lot of tinnitus, to varying degrees.  The sinus issues come and go.

I also found early on that massaging a very particular spot on my ear brought my hearing back  for a very short time, sometimes less than a minute. I press the pad of my index finger very firmly on the spot indicated in my photo,  closing up that little channel, and massage firmly in circles.
 
If I'm lucky, for a few seconds I can hear much more clearly, before it goes away again.  

The other day, someone posted that they had tried using a sinus rinse and it had cured their tinnitus.         I didn't hold out much hope, but I thought it was worth a try, while I am throwing everything and the kitchen sink at my issues.   

I had a go the first time - what a weird sensation it was!   My nose felt quite perky afterwards, but my tinnitus was unaffected, and my sinuses weren't any happier.  Five days later, I decided to have another go.  I knew what to expect this time, and once again my nose seemed happier but no other changes.    I actually had a craving to do it a second time the same day, but I resisted.   

This morning when I woke up, I could hear the voices on the radio more clearly than normal.  I thought perhaps DH had turned up the volume.  Then I realised that I could hear "behind me" (which is the bit of hearing that I have lost).     My tinnitus was also very low (or gone?).

It didn't last. Four hours later, the sensation has dulled, and my tinnitus is back (at a low level at the moment) 

It was lovely while it lasted.

I'll try another rinse later on today.

 

 

 

 

 

Prides and Fall

I've been doing really well (well, "well" relatively speaking).  Until I wasn't.

On the "doing well" side,  I'd managed to organise a burst of spring fever into some substantial cleaning, always a good sign as it's not my favourite job.    I'd also been faffing around with the diary stuff, and the fact that I was even vaguely interested in it was a good sign. I'm actually well down the rabbit hole on that one. In a good way,

I'd also had the urge to put some window film on the french doors at the back of the house.   I'd thought about this several times over the last six months, but hadn't even managed to drum up the energy to go and look.  This time I looked,  I photographedopy pasted,  I considered, and I ordered.     

Not only that,  but I went through the faff of measuring and cutting the film exactly in half,  AND following the instrcutions on preparation exactly.    This involved dusting (and using my little blower), cleaning, washing, and dusting again the glass before I even thought about trying to apply the film.

I managed to apply the film,  I got the pattern perfectly aligned,  and the whole process went swimmingly. 

I even quite like the end result (although I do miss having an unobstructed view).

Miss T came round for dinner, and thought we'd had new doors put in.

And I'd managed to find and wash the other Kefir jar I have, and separate my grains s I;'m now growing 2 lots of water kefir (with tyhe intention of having enough spare grains to create Kefir Fermented Vegetables).

My back, walthough still a disaster when I sleep on it,  was much improved during the day. Something from the "kitchen sink" attempt is obviously working.     My stomach acid is lurking, but I've managed to deal with it without resorting to a proton pump inhibitor tablet for two weeks now, which is amazing.

I have been craving milk, so I guess my calcium is being activated.

I'd even had another burst of selling stuff.

I even decided to ask for empty soda stream cylinders so I could send back 4 empties (I'm at the end of an annual plan, and we haven't used as many as we have in previous years).   I went out to collect them this afternoon. 

And the fall?

I managed to completely miss my hair appointment!  

I feel very bad about it as I visit a lady who does hairdressing from home.  She only does it a few days a week, which makes my tuirning up even worse.   My Dad was self employed, and I know how derailing this sort of thing can be,

I was completely honest with her, and told her that I had completely forgotten about it until the alarm went off while I was walkig round the Co-op.    My hairdresser was lovely about it.

 

 

VFX

I went to let the Girls out this morning and Olly, one of the Araucana, was missing.  I checked the nestbox, and she was in there trying to lay an egg.  An egg was in there too, presumably from yesterday (there hadn't been any the day before that).

 It's been so long since we had eggs that I did the egg dance all the way to the house. I wantred to tell DH that he egg drought was over. 

I got a bit of paper and wrote V F X in huge letters on it.   I then turned it over and wrote 
S, V F X on the other side.

DH wandered downstairs and I held up the first side. .  He read the letters and looked at me blankly.  I turned the paper over, and he read out the letters.  Still blank.

I got another piece of paper and scrawled
V U N E X ?
on it.  He said "vunex", and I started to laugh and told him to read out the letters.  Still no dropped penny,

I hadn't expected this, and I chuckled.

I wrote
F U N E M ?
on another piece of paper ("funem?"  " no read the letters!).  

I couldn't stop laughing as I wrote 
S V F M

Then
F U M N X ?

Then
S, V F M N X

And then it clicked for him.

Gotta love the Two Ronnies

 

Ugh

After a lot of close investigation, studying many many photographs, I ordered a 2025 page a day A5 diary from Amazon.    It arrived today.

 

I don't like it.

 

I'm rolling my eyes here.    I spent ages studying the pictures, ruling out lots of variants.  This one seemed like it would be good, but it just isn't.  It doesn't feel right. 

 

I pressed on,  moving the remaining items from my to-do list on to the pages.   The stuff that I need to do, but don't need to start yet, I put on the monthly overview page.  The stuff that I need to do on a particular day (like some stuff I have to do next time I am at my Mum's house, I put on that day ).  I resisted the temptation to transcribe all my previous todo (and now, mostly, done lists).

 

The principle is still sound, but the diary itself just isn't.  

 

I didn't go for a supercheap one (which, ironically, might have been better), and that might be part of the issue.    I don't like the paper.  I don't like the cover. I don't like the binding,  I don't like that Saturday and Sunday are on one page (that one is my fault,  I had been excluding those and this one slipped through).

I am aware of how ridiculously whiny this sounds. 

I can see that I am going to end up designing, printing and binding my own.

 

I wanted to get one for my Mum so we can try and work out what is triggering her COPD. Ths one isn't suitable for her at all.

 

...

 

Eventually, I found one I thought might work for my Mum.  I went for a week to a view in the end.  I bought a similar one for myself, and I'll try that tomorrow before  considering again printing my own. 

 

At least diaries are cheap, when the year has already started.

 

 

 

What a To Do!

I've always loved technology, and have been an early adopter since I was able to buy my own things.

I moved to using electronic "to do" lists, and I love tools like "Keep Notes" which let me use access the same list from all my devices.      I use "keep Notes" for my freezer inventory,   for my "buy again" and "don't buy" lists for wine/coffee/tea and numerous other comestibles,  for the same reason.

Recently, however, I started to use a paper based to do list again.    I suspect it was a procrastination thing really,   writing out the lists helped me avoid having to do actually action any of the tasks.      

I was a t a bit of a low ebb, and my usual self motivation techniques weren't working.   I wrote things down to stop them buzzing around my brain, and so I could organise them and - maybe - commit to doing some of them.

It was surprisibngly effective.  I'd forgotten just how good the endorphins made me feel when I highlighted an item to show that it was "done".   I found myself adding undocumented items to the list, just so I could have the satisfaction of seeing how much I was achieving.

I stopped doing it when I started to feel better, and I found that my personal productivity plummeted.    I started again, and the volume of my tasks soared.

I've been using an A5 notebook, which is working OK.     I've had to organise it so that my longer term "To Dos" need to be on a separate page to the quick things.     

I've decided I'm going to continue with it, and to help me track those tasks that just don't get done,  I'm going to use an A5 page a day diary.  That way I can see when I first added a task.

My life is so rock and roll.

What happened in Week3 (PPI or not to PPI)

I can't believe I'm already starting week4 (Tue 4th Feb)

This is a look back at week 3

Last week, I had to take a PPI on Tuesday.  Now that I know they interfere with absorption, I really wanted to find an alternative.  I read that slippery elm bark is good at actually repairing gut lining, so I ordered some of that which arrived on Friday.

I was away at my parents house for a couple of days. I'd taken some of my own Water Kefir, but I hadn't taken the cider vinegar (Mother Root), nor the Tibico Kefir, nor any fermented veg.    I was home on Friday, and I could feel stomach acid rising.  I was disappointed because it was only a couple of days since I'd taken a PPI.

The slippery elm bark had arrived while I was away, so I decided to take one.  I was surprised that it seemed to help with the acid, so I chugged some Mother Root and some Tibico Water Kefir as well, and decided to see if I could last another day before taking the PPI.

I was still aware of acid in my stomach the next day, so I took the slippery elm again, and the Mother Root, and it stayed manageable.     It's now Tuesday, so it's been a week since my last PPI.   My stomach acid isn't completely settled, but I'm still holding out on taking a PPI.   If I have to take one, I'd prefer to take it in the middle of the day, or sometime during the night, so I can avoid it interfering with everything else.

As the week closed, I considered what to do about starting the completely separate Amino Acid supplements.   Part of me wants to wait until I've been doing the Vitamin D protocol for longer.  However,   I'm going to need to get my annual thyroid blood tests done through my GP in a couple of months, so it would be great to have started on the amino acids to see if there is any thyroid improvement early on. 

I also want to ask the GP to do a folate test,  as it would be interesting to see if the Vitamin D protocol - or the amino acids - have had any effect on that before I make a decision on how to deal with that.   ( I've already paid  privately for tests my full thyroid, amino acids,  and vitamins before I started the protocol, so trying to time the NHS one seems reasonable).

I decided, on balance, that I'd start the amino acid supplements at the beginning of Week 4.

Kitchen sink drama

21st Jan, I started the second week of the Vitamin D Protocol, which requires doubling the Vitamin D to 10,000 IU.  It's up to me whether I double the K2 or whether I keep the K2 the same, and I chose to keep the K2 the same.  This means I'm taking one brand of softgel with the D3+K2, and another which just has the D3.   

Because I'm doubling up on D3, I need to ramp up the Magnesium.  K2 takes calcium to the bones and teeth and magnesium keeps it there. D also depletes magnesium,  so it needs to be replaced.   The Protocol says to increase to 500mg elemental Magnesium, so increase from 2 tablets to 5.  This was a huge jump and I didn't do it in one go,  I did 2 nights at3 tablets, followed by 2 nights at 4, and then upped to 5. 

On Thursday night I had really bad reflux.  The last time I'd taken a PPI tablet was Saturday, so I'd missed 2.   Quite a while ago I moved myself to having a tablet every other day instead of every day. Before starting on the cider vinegar and the water kefir, I had actually tried moving to every 3 days, but this was a failure.     Since being on the cider vinegar and water kefir, I'd skipped several days tablets with no ill effects.

Now that I was taking Magnesium, I wanted to stop the PPIs if possible.   I'd read that  PPIs stop minerals being absorbed, so I was hoping that the gut stuff I was doing would mean I didn't need to take them anymore.

The reflux/gerd continued on Friday, and I realised that I stupidly hadn't drunk any cider vinegar for.....I'm not sure how long.      I'd completely forgotten about it while I was busy making my own Water Kefir.    I drank some on Friday afternoon, but it didn't have the immediately calming effect  I was irrationally hoping for.

In the end, I took my evening Magnesium in the early evening, so that I could take a PPI that  night.

I need to get back into the routine of having some of the cider vinegar stuff every day.   I'll also drink some of the Tribeco water Kefir as well as my own Water Kefir.    

 

 

 

Kitchen Sink - still at the beginning

I started my "everything but the kitchen sink" regime a week ago.

I started with a vitamin D protocol and I've just finished the introductory week of that. This required me to take 5,000 IU daily of vitamin D3 oil-based, softgel supplements, afte a breakfast containing at least 15g of healthy fat.   In order to be absorbed, Vitamin D needs Vitamin K at the same time, so the supplement i bought has both.       Vitamin D pulls magnesium out of the body, which in turn causes calcium issues.  To counteract this, I had to take 200 mg magnesium glycinate (200 mg of elemental magnesium), before bed.  Magnesium cannot be taking within several hours of eating calcium rich food (like a milky drink or yoghurt). 

This all went well.   Before I started the protocol, I was taking a PPI every other night. During the protocol I had a gap of 3 nights and now I'm seeing if I can stretch it a bit more before taking one..  PPIs prevent absorption of minerals, so I'd like to come off them if I can.  I'm hoping that the large quantity of water kefir and kefir fermented veg that I am consuming will help my stomach instead.

Now I've done the introdictory week, I need to up everything.   So, last night I increased my Magnesium, but only to 300mg. It's supposed to go up to 500mg, and I need to do it because I know that it will cause other issues if I don't, but I cou;dn't bring myself to ramp it up immediately.  I tool 300mg ysterday and I'll do that today as well; I'll go to 400 on Thursday and Friday,  and then 500 from Saturday.

I've doubled my Vitamin D from today, to 10,000 IU.   I've kept the K2 the same as before.  I bought a second set of softgels that have only the D3 in, so I take one woth K2 and one without.  The protocol says its OK to double the K2 as well, but I don't want to do that.

Yesterday, my first set of blood test results arrived. These were looking at my Thyroid (all of the parts), and showed some areas of concern.  I guess these may be addressed when I start taking amino acids, at some point in the near future.

My Vitamin D  (73) was within the NHS "adequate" range, but was lower than the protocol's target.

What was also very low was my folate (2.6, well below the minium of 8.83), and my B12 (in range but on the low side).   I've joined a couple of groups to get more information on how to deal with this, but the information is a bit overwhelming and taking action isn't as straightforward as the Vitamin D protocol.   I do need to try and do something though, as the Vitanin D and B12 and Folate issues are closely interwoven.    I don't know how to proceed with it, so I'll mull it over while I carry on with the Vitamin D3.

I'm not sure what to do about the amino acid introduction. In my original plan, I was going to introduce them next week (I'm hoping the test results will be back by then), but the Folate thing has thrown me a bit.

The Kally body pillow has been a bit of a challenge. I've now managed to get it so my head feels less unsupported. It's definitely stretching my neck a bit, but my body is telling me it's a positive stretch rather than a negative one.     I'm not getting a neck ache when I get up, but I do sometimes wake up and have to move around.

I am sleeping a little better.  I still wake up, but I am waking up less often.  This improvement started when I began with the water kefir/fermented vegetables, and there was another noticeable improvement when I started with the Kally and the D3.  Of course I don't know which contributed to the positive change.

We went away overnight and I didn't take the Kally pillow with me, I went back to the V pillow.  It was ok but I found myself missing the Kally which surprised me a bit.

Last night, I had the first full back spasm for a couple of weeks, which wasn't great. It also wasn't a surprise:  we'd done a 4 hour car jouinrey Sunday night, and then a 5 hour car journey home Monday lunchtime.

I can't put my hand on my heart and say that I'm already feeling the benefit.   Maybe I am, a bit - last Thursday's cleaning marathon suggests something.  I'm looking forward to my next Chiro/Physio appointment, as I'm interested to see whether the therapist can feel any difference in my back.

 

Hairrendous

I was trying to do yet more clearing up today and it got a bit out of hand.

I'd cleaned the fridge (because I couldn't fit a tall stopper bottle of home made water kefir in there,  and a small rearrangement became a fridge clean).  

Then, I did the weekly clean of both CPAPs, which required a sink clean first.

Then I thought I'd decant my fruitbox from Crwodfarming into a fruit bowl, and put it in the dining room out of the sunlight.  The dining room table is iled up with stuff for the charity shop and a few other bits, so I had to sort those out;  then I realised that the room gets a bit warm in the evening so it wasn't a good idea to put the fruit in there; then I decided that as the table and chairs were, temporarily, clear, it would be a good idea to clean under the table. 

 I upended the chairs on to the table, and decided that, if I was going to clean under the table, I might as well clean under the cat tree and the rest of the dining room floor as well.

I moved some of the furniture that the cats use, and it was a bit hairy.  I found the cat hair cleaning brush, and had a go at a couple of items,   which led me to use it on the pads on the cat tree, which left me recoiling in shock. 

Before I knew it, I was covered in cat hair, and I had a fair bit on the floor as well.

I sent Raymondo in to have a go at cleaning.  He's been in and out, doing the self-emptying of his bin.  He hasn't actually got anywhere near fur trail yet.

Meanwhile, I've washed the kitchen floor twice with Heidi.  I had to soak her roller to start with as it has been some time since she was out and about.   We've been through 3 tanks of water so far.

It took several goes for Raymondo to roomba up the hair.  Even then, I had to get the bits, which had been swept by him to the edge, with Heidi.

 

A shopping delivery arrived in the middle, and I managed to do my water kefir as well.

I now just need to try and put things back in their place. 

Before I run of battery.

 

 

 

20 weeks and the kitchen sink.

It's been 20 weeks since I damaged my hamstring.  

Today was the first time since then that I've been able to complete the knee/hamstring exercises in my Pilates class. 

I am sure that work I've been putting in, in between classes, has helped enormously.  I added 5  squats into my morning in-shower stretch routine,  and about 4 weeks ago' I formalised my daily exercises, writing down what I was going to do and when I was going to do it.    I have been able to see that I can squat more easily (but not easily) and further (bur not far enough) now than I could at the beginning. 

I'm nowhere near back to where I was, but things are improving.

The daily water kefir and fermented veg have helped with my sleep.  I'm still waking a lot, but I am sleeping for longer periods in between wakings,  and this has allowed time for very vivid, detailed dreams to develop.

Before Christmas I decided I was going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at my issues.   I made myself wait until I'd had blood taken for baseline results (although the kefir and fermented veg will skew the results a bit). Then I decided that I'd phase the things in over the course of a few weeks rather than starting everything on day 1.

I've created a tracker using a Clickr app so I can track my exercises routines and my supplements

I'm starting a vitamin D protocol today, and the expectation is  that will enable significant improvements in other areas.   I'm particularly hoping this will help with the trapezius and upper back issues.

There's another thing I want to add in, something to try and tackle my underactive thyroid,  but I'm going to wait a week or two before starting.

I also tried to use a Kally full body pillow last night, but it was not as easy (or as shaped) as the pictures suggested.  I'll perservere and see if I can work out what I'm doing wrong.  I think it will relievee some ofthe pressure on my traps, and might help woth posture.   I'm hoping it'll do that without causing me neck issues.

And I've been Pollyanna-ing the issues.   When I feel miserable about it,  I find something to be positive about.

Let's see how it goes.

 

 

Anniversary acknowledged

My brother and I have just got back from visiting our Mum.   The weekend marked the anniversary of our Dad's death, and we wanted to make sure Mum felt supported.

We took her out for the day,  and she seemed to have a good time.  We did a good mix of new stuff, and reminiscing, and remembering.

We took the opportuinity to do another bit of clearing, mainly checking for paperwork in unexcavated corners of the attic.  Just as well we did, as there was plenty to be found.    I brought it home and sorted it,  scanned the relevant stuff and burnt the irrelevant.

We also found more china, but we've left it there.  I just can't face bringing any more back.

We've got the next date in the diary, and I've suggested a possible completion date to the buyers. 

I've taken stuff to the charity shop, and I've already got another pile on the table.

I've got some "final" Ebay listings to do, and if the items don't sell they will be added to the charity shop pile.  I want my summerhouse back,  and I want my kitchen table cleared so I can sew again.

 

 

12 months ago

Dad took days to die.

He finally went on 11th January,  I got the phone call just as I was getting ready to go to another funeral.

We thought it would be the end, and we could look forward.  In fact it was the beginning of another series of horrible events.

 

Last year

This time last year my brother and I  had been back to see Mum, had a meeting with the hospital and were expecting that Dad had a few weeks to live.

We told the family that he was dying.  Some of his briothers asked if they should visit.  We said that if they really wanted to, that would be fine,  but he wouldn't know they were there and it would be very distressing.  We reassured them that it was fine for them not to come.

We travelled home on the Friday night, planning to go up again a few days later (on the Tuesday).

One of the Ward sisters told Mum that we should "come tomorrow" (Sunday I thnk it was) as she didn't think Dad would last until the Tuesday. Dad had Sepsis on top of everything else.  We travelled back to Wales on the 7th. One uncle, the one we live nearest to and who had come with us before Christmas,  decided he would come.   He did it to be supportive, and it was lovely of him.

When we got to the hospital we we were shocked to find that Dad was distressed and obviously in pain.      I went to find someoneto get help. We were told it wasn't possible without signoff, nothing was on his notes.  e asked who we could speak to, and eventually a Registrar arrived.   They agreed that Dad could be given a sedative. It was horrible, and things got a bit worse.

The group message chat between me, my brother and my Mum) is really tough reading as there were other family issues going on at the same time. The private chats between myself and my brother are a reminder of the other stuff we were dealing with. 

We spent Monday in the hospital, and Tuesday. The syringe driver went in on the MOnday.  Mum's well meaning friend told her it would only be 24 hours before Dad died, and so Mum decided she would stay at the hospital until he'd gone.   I tried to persuade Mum to go home and sleep for a bit, but she was adamant it wouldn't be long.  Mum's friend was well meaning, but very very wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Duvet Days

I've almost finished the stupid project.

When I've done the last few, I will have washed, dried and pressed 28 duvet covers,  41 sheets (21 frilly and 20 flat) and 102 pillowcases.  I also accidentally washed half a dozen large curtains, which had looked like frilly duverys).     It's taken me 46 (I think)  washloads to complete.

I pressed them only because they needed squashing down a bit.

I've moved the enormous stack of frilly sheets into a large box.  I put the flat sheets on top.    The box was unwieldy when it was empty, and there is no way we can move it now. I think it will have to serve as a table or something.  

The pillowcases are folded and stacked in a large open box, which can sit on top of the boxtable.

The Duvet covers are currently piled precariously on top of the air conditioning unit in my bedroom.  I need to locate another ridiculously sized box to move them in to, once the last two covers are dry and pressed. 

They will then have to stay somewhere until we can take them to Monkey World.    We will have to decant them into crates to take them,  as stacks of massive duvet covers are surprisingly heavy.

All have come from my Mum and Dad's house.      And what I've got here isn't all of it (although it IS all I am going to do this with). 

I threw away stacks of bedding  at my parents house.  A lot of it smelt musty, so couldn't be donated.  When we got to the dusty rather than musty cupboards,    I had the idea of donating to Monkey World.  We started to pack it in vacuum bags,  and the number and weight soon got out of control.   When we went to bring some of the bags home, they opened (as vacuum bags have a habit of doing), and I realised that everything was going to need washing before donating.

 I had also  used a lot of the  dusty-not-musty stuff  for wrapping china.   I'd disposed of loads  other bedding, like blankets and such.  It was not my favourite job.

I'd thrown some of the bedding  away when I unpacked them here, and some of them I threw away after washing.    

I had brought home a couple of vacuum bags of blankets and bedspreads, but I can't face dealing with them.  They will be too much work to wash and dry,  so I'm going to bin them all.  I'm not going to let myself feel guilty about it.

It's taken a ridiculously stupid amount of time and effort to deal with it all, and I probably should have just binnedeverything in the first place.

But it seemed like a worthwhile idea originally (before we realised just how much bedding my Mum had hoarded kept.)

Of course we won't be going to Money World for some time, but at least the bedding will be ready to go.

 

 

New Year

I am so glad to see the back of 2024.

Some of the stuff from last year is still going on,  and I had an odd curveball lobbed at me when I went to visit Mum on the 27th December.    It was a bit of a kick in the stomach, and  timely reminder of how things used to be.   

I had already been thinking about what I can or need or could do, so that this year is better than last year, or at least so I can try and get some of my own life back.   Some of the stuff from last year, like the house,  is still ongoing.  The small but significant incident made me more determined to.... to.... I don't know how to express it. 

I've got some stuff that I'd already started and I'd like to get completed.  I tried to get one stupidly large task completed yesterday, as I really didn't want to start the New Year with it.  However, despite me working on it all day and evening,  it hasn't been finished.   

I'm now trying to finish it today.  It's as dull as ditch water, but I'll share it when it's complete.

I also went back to using paper lists, which are a bit of a pain but do give a lot more satisfaction when crossing off (or highlighting, in my case) tasks that have been completed.     I haven't included routine tasks.

I also made myself work formalise the various bits of exercising I have to do to, and I found writing that down quite helpful.   I wrote a sign telling me to do a "controlled sit", which I put under the TV.    It worked, I did try and do a controlled stand and controlled sit from/on the sofa each time I sat or got up.  I say, "controlled".  I could only occasionally manage it with my legs crossed, most of the time it was enough of a challenge to do it  uncrossed.  Hopefully I'll see things improve over the coming weeks.

Some weeks ago I bought one of those desk block calendars, the sort everyone used to have on their desk at work.   It's the fabulous Strange Planet cartoon by Nathan Pyle,  and I've had to resist looking ahead. I don't think I can bring myself to rip off yesterday's page,  it seems such a waste!  I'm sure I can find a way to recycle.  Ooh, maybe I can convert them into cards!

Well, I need to go now as the stupidly large project needs attending to.    I'm not quite on the home straight, but I thnk I'm approaching the last circuit.  Maybe. 

Happy 2025