Hello

Things have been a bit busy.

After being told several weeks ago on a Friday that the doctors didn’t think that mum would last the weekend, they now want to discharge her from hospital.

As you know mum has dementia but I think that we were putting a lot of her behaviour down to that and didn’t realise how physically ill she was. She had pneumonia, her blood count was very low and something was wrong with her heart. The day the docs called me in so explain how poorly she was they had also found a massive blood clot on her lung, which was pressing on her heart. She had a blood transfusion that night and also had several B12 injections which boosting her blood count. As she was refusing food and also refused a food tube I asked if I could go in at meal times to try and feed her. The nurses had to respect mums wish if she said she didn’t want to eat, where as I could be a bit more encouraging “one more spoon” kind of thing. As I blogged before seeing her feed herself was a great sight, not only was she well enough to pick up the spoon but she also wanted to eat, which was good, as some people wondered if she had given up.

The hospital she has been in for the last few weeks has been for rehab. They have managed to get her walking again and getting dressed. Now we are at the point where they feel that they have done all they can, and she is ready to move, this time into a care home, as she would be unable to cope and wouldn’t be safe living on her own.

So we are starting the process of finding a new place for mum to live, and the minefield of social service procedures. Everything seems to be based around whether you are self-funding or not. This is where the confusion begins as I thought mum would be as she has some savings, however after a brief telephone call to her financial advisor it appears they can’t touch her money because of how it is invested. It’s all very complicated and now we have to have a financial assessment. Of course money talks to which home you can go in. We looked round 3 today. The first one we weren’t that keen on, the second one from what we saw was fantastic, I could have moved in there myself. And third was nice and only a 5 mins walk from where we live.

As well as finding a new home, I have give notice and to sort out mums flat, organising what to keep, if we want anything and how to get rid of things we don't need/want.

Needless to say my head is spinning and all this has to be done before Christmas – wish me luck!!


Update on OH
I didn’t post much about what happened as I think we were both in shock. OH works in a hotel and heard a lot of shouting; he investigated to find a man beating up his wife in the reception. She had ran from their room to try and get away from him. There was blood all over and their room had been trashed. He tried to calm the man down but got two punches in the head. The police were called and the man arrested.

Thank you all for your hugs and kind words, they mean a lot.

Just a quickie tonight

We’ve had a couple of stressful days as OH was assaulted at work on Saturday night. He is ok but was a bit shook up.

I managed to use some of the frozen stir-fry veg from the freezer for dinner tonight and served it with noodles and tuna steak yummm.

Got My Wheels Back

I got my car fixed. I mentioned to a lady at work that something was wrong with it. She had a flat tyre the other day and had called into a small garage near work who sorted it out for her. I gave them a call and they said they could have a look at it but couldn’t guarantee they could repair it that day. No problem and I popped it round. Within an hour she called me to say what was wrong, not a big job so they could squeeze it in and the cost. At the end of the morning it was done and I picked it up in after lunch. I’d worried that it was going to cost us the holiday fund but with parts and labour the bill was £37.44. They were fantastic, great customer service and price.

This morning was spent at the food kitchen. I really enjoy it there and this week I'm going to have a look round a local homeless shelter that some our clients use. I would like to do more to help out but at the moment this isn’t possible.

Dinner tonight went down well, a cheap jar of curry sauce, half an onion, handful of frozen peas, and a packet of cooked chicken served with homemade wedges, rice and yellow label naan breads. Not the healthiest but was a lot cheaper than a takeaway and we really enjoyed it.

I nipped to the supermarket for cat food - £10 for 24 tins, which with biscuits keeps him fed for the month. Not many bargains to be had but I got 3 small baguettes for 5p each that I’ve cut in half and put in the freezer.

Tomorrow I’m going to do some chores and visit mum.

Hope you’ve all had a great Bonfire night.

KESHLING – I completely agree, you save so much money doing it.

CAROL – I was surprised at how ill I felt and glad you are enjoying reading
MEANQUEEN – You just feel so much better eating properly, I love the smiley faces you make with your dinner :)

SFT – I should have explained, OH is having mackerel and I’m having the veggie burger, however a combination of the two sounds good. Maybe it could be one of my new recipes for this month.

SIMPLEMISS – I had a headache the next day, which was probably down to poor eating.

MUM – I’m going to have a go at baking bread this month, last time I did it was “heavy”, more practice is needed I think.

Food Glorious Food

What was interesting by doing my food challenge last month was finding out the things that went down well with my OH were things that I thought he wasn’t keen on. He enjoyed meat from left over roasts which I had frozen with gravy and he also like the homemade vegetable soup. The baguettes I’d cut into four and froze along with some rolls that were yellow stickered at 10p where handy to have will soup or sausage casserole. I also know what not to buy again. I still have some frozen stir-fry veg and peppers that I haven’t used. I also found some frozen grilled aubergine from when I made mousakka once, there isn’t enough to make another one and I don’t want to buy any more some will have to think of a way to use them up.

I think I will have a meat delivery next week. I can’t remember the last time we had one. I hope that his prices haven’t gone up but I think that in the current climate they will have. I have found a new place for fruit and vegetables. I’m not sure if they are cheaper than Aldi but the fruit I got from there the other day was so tasty it was worth it. Also it is a local independent trader which I like to support.

I will definitely keep up with the menu planning and want to try some new recipes this month.

Here is next weeks menu plan, using up a few more bits from the freezer.

Fri
Mince and onions, jacket potato & veg
Sat
Home made chicken curry & chips/rice
Sun
£5 meal deal from Morro’s/ or Roast Chicken
Mon
Tuna steaks, new potatoes & veg/salad
Tue
Pasta carbonara
Wed
Fish pie/pork, mash potatoes & veg
Thurs
Mackerel/veggie burger, jacket potatoes & salad
Fri
Seafood risotto

You Are What You Eat

I have eaten a lot of rubbish today. Started with a sausage roll, then some parkin cake that a lady in the office had baked, then someone bought some biscuits left from a meeting, then there was some banana crisp things - that didn’t taste at all like banana -, then a ham sandwich, then more biscuits. I just don’t have the will power to say no. By the time I was due to drive to see my mum I was shattered so got an energy drink, something I’ve never had before and will not again it was disgusting.

I have just felt tired, sick and headachey. I’m sure it’s because of all the sugar and fat I have put in my body today.

After eating all homemade food for the last month I have noticed the difference in how better I feel, so tonight I had a light dinner of salmon and salad. I have bought some vegetables and am going to make lots of soup to freeze. Tomorrow for lunch we are having some turkey that I have cooked with spices, salad, homemade hummus and pitta bread. We will be having tastey homemade food again this month, maybe lose some weight again and hopefully feel better again.

PS Hello and welcome to my new followers.

First Thing off my Life List

Following Dannie’s example I’ve been working on a Life or Bucket List. Today unexpectedly I crossed one thing off it – eat goat. As you know my colleague and I share lunches and she phoned me last night to say her partner was making goat casserole and would I like some for lunch. It was nice, to be honest didn’t really taste of anything really distinctive; I thought it would be more like lamb. What food would you like to try?

My car is making a horrible grinding noise. It started when I was taking a friend home tonight, sounded like something scratching on the road, but I had a look underneath and couldn’t see anything. We phone her mechanic brother as I was worried about driving the 7 miles home but unfortunately he couldn’t help. I decided to give it a go and the noise didn’t get worse but I’m worried if driving it is causing more damage. So tomorrow will be spent trying to get it fixed, who knows how much it will cost and where the money will come from!

SFT – I’m defiantly going to do the rounding down principle. We got the mortgage total today and I’ve already looking at figure to knock off. I use the little tray lots, thank you xx

MEANQUEEN – I think the blueness is probably as I took the pictures with my phone! I hadn’t had fish & chips in a while and really enjoyed them.

MUM – I can’t wait for the next party :) I might have a go at baking!

DREAMER – Thank you, as much as I love my friend I couldn’t let her have it lol. What a coincidence with the piggy cup.

ANNE – I would like to say I’d made it but it was shop bought, a bargain at £1.50.

Mum's Tea Party

Hopefully better late than never.

Cucumber sandwiches (egg for OH as he doesn't like cucumber), fruit cake with cheese and a couple of biscuits.

The stand was brought for a friend by my mum but it never made it to her!

And the plate, I won from a very kind SFT from one of her excellent "give aways" and the mug my OH got me when we were on holiday in Scotland once.

I hope you've all enjoyed your tea parties, I hope we can do it again.

Did I do All The List...

Nearly, I did all but re-pot the plants from my list.

The tea-light holders from free-cycle are all glass and look lovely on our mantel.

I left the biscuits for my freind in my kitchen but got her a nice basket of plants for her flat.

I sent a cheque off for the credit card bill so it is now has a zero balance.

I updated our spending/bill spreadsheet and we have £250 for the money to spend. It sounds alot but we need to re-stock the freezer and I will be using more petrol to visit mum as the new hospital is alot further away.

My OH and me went to Scarborough today.

The weather was great, especially for the 1st November. We were so hungry when we got there we had fish and chips.

We got takeaway as it is cheaper than a restaurant and sat and ate them looking out to sea.

We took a slow walk along the beach, just enjoying our time together and chatting.

We didn’t venture into town this time, just got an ice-cream on the way back to the car.

On the way home we called in at the new hospital my mum is in. Its a lot smaller so there should be more one to one care. She has settled in well.

Once again thank you for all your comments, I love reading them.

SFT – My OH is learning well about being frugal, I think the butties tasted all the nicer for being free! Hope you got your shampoo at a bargain price lol. You’re my inspiration with mortgage payments, I think we are going to half any money we have left at the end of the month with one half going on overpayments and the other into our emergency fund. Even if it just a few pounds every little bit helps.

MUM – Thank you for comments and support and see you for tea :)

NSD – You’re right about the “jet lag” days but I can’t complain as he is working and enjoying it which is great after he was out of work for a while.

DANNIE – It has really focused my spending on food and made me think about what we eat.

A Day Off :)

I've have got today off from work but have a few things that I want to do.

They are:

* Update spending spreadsheet to see how much we have to spend this month
* Collect some candle holders that I got from Freecycle
* Buy and deliver a freinds birthday present - she is so hard to buy for as she doesn't have any hobbies. We have decided on a house plant and a nice box of biscuits
* Pay cheque into bank
* Pay off visa bill completley
* Re-pot some plants
* Go somewhere with OH - maybe seaside?
* Visit mum at the new hospital she moved to yesterday
* Meet up with blogger friends for Mums Tea Party

Right, I better get a shuffle on!