Batch

For the past few months, DH and I have been (re)watching Deep Space Nine, right from the beginning.    

I've seen a number of episodes over the years, but we hadn't watched it properly.    It was very enjoyable watching all of it, in a relatively short space of time.    I really became invested in the characters and their development,  and I wish we'd watched it when it aired originally. 

7 seasons, 26 (ish) episodes per season.  

We haven't been bingewatching,  we normally watch 1 episode a night. 2 if its a cliffhanger. Occasionally we missed a night.    We had a problem when our Sky box crashed and we had to get a new one,  all our recordings were lost,  and the later series were no longer free.    

It was being broadcast again,  but it was well behind where we were and it would be months before the TV caught up with where we'd got to.    I looked at buying the DVDs,  but in the end it was cheaper to subscribe to a service for a few months, so that's what we did.

Yesterday we wtached Season 7, episode 24.   We have only the final pair of episodes left to watch. 

I thought were going to watch them tonight.    I started a load of batch cooking (thank you to Mrs Balbir Singh spices) so we'd have an array of Indian dishes to enjoy while watching.   

DH had made other plans!

I guess it'll be Friday now.   I've potted up some of everything into the little Le Creuset individual casseroles I bought pre-loved,  which are fab for reheating things in the airfryer.  I would never have bought these new,  but they are really great.  They are a neat size  -   I can put a few in the airfryer at once,  they are lidded (which my lovely Falcon enamel bowls aren't)  so it's a really efficient way of heating up a selection of items.    

  I digress.

I batch cooked, so I've also portioned up a load of stuff in the "ready meals" drawer in the freezer:  4 pairs of Beef Rogan Josh (I didn't have any mutton left);  5 (sides for 2 people) of  Keema Masala; 5  (sides for 2 people)  of Chana Massala.   I hadn't got as far as prepping the Lamb Sheekh kebabs (cocktail meatball style), so that's something. 

 It feels like a bit of an achievement.  

I had pasta salad, with yesterday's leftover pasta, instead.

 

 

 

 

 

Utilitarian

We have a new washing machine arrivingat the end of the week.

It was a slightly impulsive purchase.  Ours has been making noises recently, is 15 years old, and I started to have a look to see what I might replace it with when it finally goes.  I haven't looked at washing machines for years, so I wanted to at least get an idea of whats around.

Anyway. I jumped headfirst into that rabbit hole,   got an idea of what I wanted, and was then surprised to find that the machine I had considered was being offered for a  reasonably good deal at Costco.   It probably means that it's going to be superseded, but it made me consider buying it.

And then I realised that the next model up was also on offer at Costco, and that was a real bargain.  

I did some research, and then decided I'd buy it.

I am expecting buyers remorse to kick in.

Anyway.  I needed to make sure that there was enough room for the old machine to come out and the new machine to go in.   And DH thought the hoses went behind some shelves, so I had to empty those out.   As it happened, the hoses didn't go behind there at all, but no harm done,

The upshot is that I've spent the entire morning decluttering a good part of the utility room.  

I've been quite ruthless.  

One of the things I found was a tin of stuff  with the label "Ingredients for Slime".   I opened it up and had to chuckle at the shaving foam, hand cream, liquid soap, pva glue, laundry starch, colouring and glitter.  I offered it to my neighbour, and she said her boys couldn't be trusted with slime.  That made me chuckle, as one of the reasons it had been hidden away is that I never wanted to use it again.

Maybe my friend who is a brown owl might like it.

I'm a bit fed up with the decluttering now, and I've still got stuff to get back in.  And more to sort.

And I'll still need to remove some stuff on delivery day.

But I'm happy with what I've removed and reorganised.

Eye Aye!

PVD. Posterior vitreous detachment.

Saturday night, I had a blob in my vision.  A round blur with a tail,  like a raindrop on a window.  I thought it was a hair, or a bit of fluff.  I realised it wasn't.  It moved with the direction of my eye, and I had some flashing going on top right.  The NHS website didn't seem to think it was a cause for a trip to A&E, so I decided to see if I could get an optician's appointment the next day.  

One of my parents has Macular disorder. They ignored the initial signs and consequently lost the sight in one eye;  some of their vision could have been saved if they'd dealt with it earlier.  

Sunday morning, I was lucky to be able to book the last appointment at my local Boots.   When I got there, I explained that I didn't actually want an eye test, I would like her to examine my eye.  The ophthalmologist (optometrist? Optician?) was lovely, and she did various tests including dilating my pupils.

She couldn't see any tear in my retina,  and she gave me a referral to take to my local eye hospital (or I could go into London to one of the walk in eye hospitals that were open on a Sunday).

Monday (today),  DH drove me to the local eye hospital.  Bit of triage, then off to the Optometry department to have my eye examined to check for tears or holes.

Upshot: PVD.

Some jelly("Vitreous") behind my eye has become dislodged.  This is quite a common thing, no treatment.  It will be like this indefinitely, but my brain will eventually learn to ignore it.   No action needed, unless things get worse (a sudden rush of floaters,  a change in vision, a dark shadow in my vision,  or the flashing lights getting worse).

I started to walk home, but it was a bright day and my dilated pupils had no defence against the sunshine.  Thank goodness I hadn't driven.  

DH picked me up part way home.  I was quite relieved to get in the car out of the sunlight.

We had a museum visit planned, we had arranged to take my uncle as well,  so we carried on with that.   I couldn't actually read anything, because the eye drops had now affected my vision.  I did find I could  take photos and enlarge them to read them.   Apart from that, it was a really enjoyable trip.

I'm back home now and can (just about) read things now.

 

 

 

It's a gas!

Cadent is replacing all the gas pipes in our village.  The work will take about 42 weeks in total.

This week its our road being done, and weve had a hole outside our house for a few days.   Today is was our turn to have the new pipes fitted,  which they've done by pushing new pipes inside the old one. 

 Cadet had visited earlier in the week to let us know what would be happening.  They knocked on the door to tell us they were turning the gas off,  and we moved our cars so we weren't stuck, just in case it took longer than planned.

At 3.30, they'd all left.  And we hadn't had our gas turned back on.  

I phoned the number on the card and explained that we seemed to have been forgotten.  The chap phoned back and said the person who did the reinitialisation would be there at about 6.30.

He came about 8pm.   I felt sorry for him,  such a long day.  He knocked to explain he had to do something with the meter first, and then he would come in to do the 

When he knocked again it was to apologise and to tell me he couldn't reconnect us.  We hadn't  been connected, and he didn't know why. He'd phoned the team to let them know, and they'd have to sort it out tomorrow.

Oh well. 

It's not the end of the world. 

Bloody hell

I'm getting better.  

It's taken a while, but I now just feel unwell rather than feeling like I could keel over at any moment.

I've managed to do a couple of test stitch outs on my new embroidery machine.  I haven't yet sold the old one, and it makes it cramped in the room.   I decided I needed to move the old machine, temporarily, so that I could get on with trying the new one before the enthusiasm passed.

The only place it can sensibly go is in the smallest bedroom, where it will take up al the available floorspace and mean that I can't go and play Orla.    I don't have any alternative option, apart from putting it in the downstairs hall, and that's asking for trouble from the cats.

Today was the day I decided I'd have a go at clearing the space for it.   It's not just a case of clearing the space to put it,  that wouldn't take too long.  It's the need to make sure that I can access anything else I'm likely to  (INNW?) technique to summon enthusiasm.

Very quickly, the floors of the landing, bathroom,and our bedroom had piles of stuff.   I also found a couple of bits that I had  thought I might try and sell (INNW?), so I excavated those and put them out on the landing to photograph.  

When I first started machine embroidery, I had a lot of different rolls of stabiliser, and I had the btilliant idea of using super heavy duty counter roll cutters for them.  When we redid my sewing room, focussing on clothes not embroidery,  I put the roll holders into the small bedroom thinking I'd sell them at some point.

I'm part way through sorting, and my enthusiasm has waned somewhat.

I've got some empty boxes and bits which are good for packing out boxes.   I end up in a bit of a cycle with this sort of thing.  I keep them, in case I need them. Then I get ed up and get rid of them. Then I decide to do a selling spree, and find I don't have suitable boxes and packaging. So I start keeping boxes. Which then take up so much space.   

I only keep super strong boxes.  And then I, sort of, get attached to them.  It's partly because I've got some stuff to list on Ebay, next time they offer me reduced fees.

The parents of a friend of mine are downsizing, and from Autumn through to Spring they are busy selling, and I usually pass the boxes on to them.    Spring and Summer, they are away, and don't do any selling, and that's when I have a problem.   

I'm not sure what they are doing this year.  It would be great if they were back soon, as I''m sure I'd be able to pass on the majority of my stash to them.

On the plus side, I made a little box for a particular purpose using my new glue gun (hooray!), I've emptied the spare printer paper drawer, and put the contents next to the printer (and in the printer. And on the printer) in its new location under the stairs;    I've  moved a Really Useful Storage tower and put some of the bits on my A0 desktop, so I can actually get to the buts to use the comb binder;  and I've excavated a huge bag of assorted yarn.

I thought I'd use it when I used my embellisher machine,  but I haven't used it yet (I'm doing a one day workshop in October).     I also thought some of them would make fab wrappings for pressies.  Trouble is, they were all styuffed in a bag, under the A0 desk, blocked in by a mountain of stuff so were never going to get used.   

 I haven't resolved what to do yet.

One of the items I had out to sell, I couldn't remember how it went together. I looked online, sert it up to take a picture and realised the warning label "Caution: Razor sharp edge" was upside down.  I picked it up to turn it over, and shredded the side of my 4th finger. The irony!

I'm on blood thinners, and  became interesting quite quickly. It's wrapped tightly in an extra long finger plaster at the moment, and I'm hoping it won't bleed through.

I was sittingwriting a sales ad for them,  and it suddenly occurred to me that  maybe I want to keep one of the counter roll holders, and use if again for its originally intended purpose.  It could perhaps go on my A0 desktop... the one that I've just put loads of other bits on.

I suppose its just as well that I  thought of this now, not when I've sold them.

Well, I'd bettter go and measure and see what's possible. 

And I've really got to finish clearing the floor.  What am I saying?!  I should have said: I've really got to start clearing the floor. 

I need to go.

Sideways

The back and neck pain is reducing,but still very present and still making it difficult for me to do anything.. My blood pressure continues to be very high, even overnight.

I've dug out my Atkiia bracelet, recalibrated it, and I've been wearing it to try and keep an eye on what's happening.

 I bought another device, It's a wearabe monitor, like a Holter monitor.  It shows my ventricular mishaps, and it's shown my very slow heartbeat.  I took it off to have a shower,  the pads got wet and I had to take them of.  One of them had irritated my skin, and removing it caused a blister.  It's now really sore to put another pad on (i tried), so I've not worn it since.  I've ordered some 3m pads to see if they are any kinder.

Sunday was our village bi-monthly  litter pick.  I got up  and went out to do  our street before it got too hot.  I made slow progress, it took me about an hour and fifteen minutes, and my neck and shoulders were complaining again.

I had an appointment wit the Chiro on Monday, and that helped a little wot the pain.  Paracetamol is helping too. 

I need to phone the GP to try and get an appointment, and I'm not sure why I keep putting it off.  I guess I'm trying to gather evidence before I ask for help.

I've stitched one thing with the new embroidery machine, but I need to re-do it.  I'm (still) waiting for a promised magnetic frame to arrive,  and I'm waiting for some brackets which may or may not fit two of my original frames.  I'm a little disappointed that it's taken so long. 

I also ordered a bracket  from the US,  for my clamp frame. I was originally going to sell it, but it didn't sell quickly.  It was a hugely expensive frame when I bought it, still is,  and it's just not worth me selling it for less than half price.    I sold some household bits to cover the cost of the bracket.  That should be arriving soon,

I also ordered some replacement frames for the new machine, and they will be arriving tomorrow.  I've got stuff on Ebay which should (mostly) cover the cost.

 I've been  selecting designs to stitch to try out,  and I've played about with some settings on my machine.     I intend to do at least some stitch outs before the weekend arrives.    I thought I might also try and stitch something on some of DH's old holey tee shirts, but he's more of a plain tee shirt chap.

We were promised a thunderstorm yesterday.  We had a small shower, which I stood out in.  It didn't quite do the trick.  We've got plenty of rain today,  but I wasn't getting the pull to go and stand out in it at all.  I had to pop over to a different part of the village, and I ended up driving.

I've got boxes and packaging all over the sitting room, waiting for auctions to end so I can get things packed and sent. 

Miss Teen is here doing homework.  Her mocks are in October, earlier than originally planned.  They are happening the week she's staying with us, so that'll be fun for all.

I'll worry about that in a week or two.

 

 

 

Backwards

Well it's been an unpleasant week, healthwise.

I had some issues last Thursday morning(arrhythmia).  It's all receded a little bit, but my back problems have come back with a vengeance, it's (almost) as bad as it was 2 years ago.  Even my stomach is joining in.

My new embroidery machine was due to be delivered on Tuesday.  I was tempted to postpone it, as I didn't feel well at all,  but it was a 2 man delivery job, so I thought it best to get on with it.  Unfortunately (did I really use the U word?),  I wasn't well enough to use the machine yesterday, and I've been struggling today.

I would love to go to bed and just be ill - but lying down exacerbates the problem.   I'm trying P&D at the moment. (Paracetamol and Distraction),

The abnormally hot weather doesn't help.

Hopefully normality will be resumed soon.